My son and I are currently working our way through Watership Down for bedtime reading, so I especially enjoyed seeing this shot that birdbrain got in the wee hours this morning: The game’s first-ever eastern cottontail!
Congratulations, birdbrain!
Archive for the ‘Mammals’ Category
Eastern cottontail!
Wednesday, August 26th, 2009Here, Kitty Kitty…
Sunday, August 9th, 2009Dr. Glasscock was talking in chat the other day about how the drought at Welder is putting lots of animals under stress, and forcing them to move to places they otherwise wouldn’t. The feeding station in front of the camera is apparently one of the few good sources of food and water on the refuge. As a result, we might see some animals we’re not used to seeing. This was discussed as a possible explanation for the arrival of the American alligator yesterday (which was not there today, apparently; he or she must have moved on in the night).
Then tonight I logged in, and idbirds said a coyote had just walked across under the deer feeder, heading right to left. A frozen camera prevented her from getting a shot, sadly. We looked around for a few minutes, but didn’t find anything. Then idbirds logged out, and… about five minutes later look what walked through the same area:
I’m pretty sure that’s the game’s first (photographed) bobcat. (A few users have believed they’ve seen one before, but they’ve never managed to get a photo.)
I’m curious how well idbirds saw the coyote. If it was just a passing glimpse, I could imagine that it might actually have been this bobcat that she saw. But if she got a good look, then we just had two previously unphotographed mammals cross in front of the camera within minutes of each other.
Now that’s what I call an exciting few minutes on the birdcam. 🙂
Update: No official ID for the shot yet, which is partly my own fault; I was one of the people who ID’d it as “Other Mammal”, and now that “Bobcat” has been added as a possible ID, all the people who did what I did have to be out-voted 2-to-1 to get the ID. *sigh*
A Bandit
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009I was checking Welder this evening and found a raccoon up on the end of the long tray feeder. Â With no other users logged in and no pics left for the day, I took a few screen grabs. Â Enjoy, idbirds!
The Latest from Craig’s Deck
Thursday, October 9th, 2008I think this is just about the cutest shot ever:
Favorite Shots from the Last Few Days
Thursday, June 12th, 2008A couple of noteworthy shots of the past few days:
After all the late-night hours we’ve put in in hopes of getting another shot of the Barred Owl that showed up on the first night after the camera’s public unveiling, vanilla finally got lucky. Check out this shot, one of several that she got in the wee hours of June 10:
I also really liked this shot bugchik got on the morning of June 11:
Cutest. Shots. Ever.
Friday, May 30th, 2008Remember the pregnant white-tail doe we’ve been watching since the camera went live? I don’t think she’s pregnant any more. Check out these shots taken this morning by birdbrain and rafa:
birdbrain wrote in the comment accompanying that first photo:
Bambi happily exploring the area (no parents visible) … running and hiding in tall clumps of grass from time to time…. A natural instinct for survival. Absolutely amazing!!
Non-bird Shots
Saturday, May 17th, 2008Here are some of my favorite non-bird shots taken in the last few days.
rafa got this shot of a mama Javelina and what looks like a fairly young piglet:
achadamaia was one of several users to get a shot of this cute little rodent (not sure about the species; it doesn’t appear to be a choice in the available IDs):
Finally, user califas got this very cool close-up of an unidentified insect:
Any bug experts on the blog want to help with an ID?
Meanwhile, Back in Class Mammalia…
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008One of the neat things about CONE Welder is that we have the floodlights at night, and a lot more mammals to look at. I confess I’m not as interested in them as I am in birds, but that’s just personal prejudice, mostly. I’m all about combatting prejudice, so here are some of the more-interesting mammal shots taken lately.
Vanilla got this shot that shows both species of Welder’s wild pigs at the same time: I believe that’s a Javelina on the left, and a Feral Hog on the right:
Here’s a shot that achadamaia got of a Nine-banded Armadillo:
Here are two shots from a larger series taken by vanilla last night showing why it’s important that the feeders are suspended on wires — and why it doesn’t always matter:
Finally, here are a couple of shots I took this morning. It really looks to me like this White-tail doe is pregnant. How fun would it be to see a new fawn taking its first steps into the meadow? (Cue the Bambi music.)
